DEATH WALKED IN

As mystery bookshop owner Annie Darling and her problem-solving husband Max go about transforming the antebellum Franklin house into their dream residence, they little know it will be the scene of criminal activity. Max is gun-shy after being set up and jailed for murder when he answered a plea for assistance (Dead Days of Summer, 2006, etc.). So a phone call from a woman asking for his help and apologizing for hiding something in the Franklin house goes unanswered until his ever-curious wife drives to Gwen Jamison’s home and finds her dying from a gunshot wound. Gwen worked for the Grant family, whose valuable coin collection has recently been stolen. The police first focus on Gwen’s troublesome younger son, but suspicion turns to other family members—Geoff Grant, his third wife, two sets of children from former marriages and a sister-in-law—all of whom may have financial problems that would be eased by a fortune in gold coins. Multiple break-ins at the Franklin house, complete with shots fired and a second murder, only make Annie and Max more determined to track down a clever and dangerous killer.

One of Max and Annie’s more absorbing adventures, even though it telegraphs the killer’s identity early on.